3) Child of Torchwood
by jenna-ln
Summary: Sequel to "The Slitheen Take Cardiff": Immediately following the Raxacoricofallapatorian disaster which claimed the life of the old cop Andy Davidson, Anwen is eager for the distraction of training for her new position at Torchwood. However, things aren't as she expected and the Captain is behaving rather strangely. Will she be able to convince the team she is ready? Is she?
1. Chapter 1

Part 1) The Morning After

My alarm went off at the same time as always and I sat up in bed to turn it off. The sun was pouring in through a crack in the drapes announcing that the earth had kept turning it spite of all the awful things that happened in the last twenty four hours. It seemed cruel and inappropriate that I also had a pounding head ache. My breath stunk of alcohol and the end of the evening was a bit fuzzy but it wasn't a complete black out.

I was just about to flop down and go back to sleep when Jess came bursting into my bedroom. She closed the door and jumped into bed beside me waving her arms as if they were on fire, lips pursed in barely contained excitement.

"Is it serious?" she asked.

"Is what serious?" I asked.

"Tall, dark, and sexy! Is it serious can I have him?" she asked gripping my arm shaking it furiously.

"You are not making any sense," I moaned pulling the covers over my head. I felt her get out of the bed but then she ripped the covers away and jumped back in beside me bouncing up and down like an energizer bunny. She had her phone in hand and flipped through her pictures furiously trying to find something that would hopefully make her meaning more clear.

"I _so_ hope you got his number! You look plastered and is that vinegar I smell? Is that from some kinky sex game? Don't tell me! If it's not serious I want to be surprised!" she squealed when she found what she was looking for and shoved the cell phone in my face. I blinked and held it back and then it made sense.

"Oh… you saw Jack."

I remembered Jack driving me home from the burning pile of ruble my place of work had become. We sat and we talked and cleaned out Jess's beer supply. I was in this picture she'd taken but I didn't remember seeing her. Jack must have left his coat in the car because you could hardly tell he'd died in an explosion just a few hours before. When Jack had told me to email Jess to get her out of the apartment I'd told her I was getting laid. It was the only thing I could think of. When we moved in together she made me sign a contract saying that if either of us ever got luck out of respect the other would vacate the apartment until the following morning. When I invited Jack in I hadn't remembered the email and clearly this respecting each other's space thing was a one way street.

"Jack's his name? Oh… I like that. Great hair. He looks like he might be ripped under those suspenders. Has he got a six pack!" she asked excitedly. I groaned and dragged myself out of bed.

"How am I supposed to know? I didn't sleep with him," I said walking out to the kitchen. There were beer bottle all over the counter. I hope most of those were Jack's or I was at serious risk of alcohol poisoning.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Please don't tell me he's gay! Please if there is a God he cannot be gay!" she shrieked following me as I started to make coffee.

"Sorry he's gay," I lied hoping to get her to shut up. It was a terrible plan. She started moaning and groaning about the unfairness of the universe and listing off gay celebrities she fancied. "Did you watch the news last night?" I asked interrupting her rant.

"Ew, no. It was lady's night at the little pub on Duke Street I was getting pissed why would I watch the news?"

"No reason," that explained a few more things. My face had been plastered against every news station and labeled as a terrorist for the entire world to shame. It was all the product of an alien's plot to destroy my credibility when Jack and I got too close for their comfort. I started stalking around the house picking up crap from the night before. I tried to focus on the details of Jack's visit rather than why he'd stayed so long or why I drank so much…

"_What do you mean you are from the 51__st__ century?" I asked as I opened the first round of beers._

"_Another Q and A session? Alright, anything you want. What I mean is I am from the future. I was born on the Boeshane peninsula on a distant star and got myself signed up for the time agency and started travelling."_

"_Wow, so time travel is a real thing in the future? Not just stuff dropping through the rift but real, intentional, time travel?"_

"_Well time travel is real all the time. This," he said showing me his wrist strap. "Is a vortex manipulator and can be used to jump in time and space."_

"_Wow could you go somewhere right now if you wanted to?" I asked. I was pretty sure he was leading me on but it was fun to imagine._

"_No its busted, unfortunately thanks to an old travelling companion of mine who thought that I was too irresponsible to be left alone with 'that sort of technology'," he said shaking his head and taking a swing of beer._

"_You are lying. You have to be," I said laughing._

"_No I'm not! I've been trying to fix it recently. The ability to jump from place to place can be really handy especially where bombs are concerned. I'll make you a promise right now when I get this thing working again I'll take you anywhere. Where would you like to go?"_

"_Any where?"_

"_Any when," he said grinning._

"_How about Boeshane?" I said. "I'd like to see what sort of crazy alien planet might beget Jack Harkness. Are you human?" I asked. My concerned expression made him laugh really hard._

"_Yes I'm human. What would you do if I wasn't?" he asked laughing._

"_Offer you another pint and keep asking questions."_

"_Which is what you are going to do anyway," he said smiling up at me from where he was lounging on my couch. I walked over with another round and he sat up so I could sit next to him and we continued to talk._

I stepped out of the bathroom showered and dressed. I was finishing off my coffee when my mobile rang and I saw it was Jack Harkness.

"Not too hung over are you?" I answered.

"No, the price I pay for immortality doesn't include the morning glory of a hang over," he said.

"You don't know what you're missing old man. It's brilliant," I said popping an aspirin in my mouth to help with the head ache. "So to what do I owe this grand pleasure at seven am?"

"It's your first day at work I thought we'd start with something easy," he said.

"Wait so you were serious?"

"Do you not want to work for Torchwood anymore?" he asked there was confusion and disappointment in his voice.

"No, no I do it's just that I thought you didn't mean it I mean…" I groaned and rubbed my forehead. "Are you only offering me a job because of what happened with the raxcoro-whatevers?"

"Raxacoricofallapatorians and you did more than earn this job you've practically been doing it. You have fought weevils, investigated alien interference in human society, and told a police constable where to stuff it. You are qualified. Robyn and Marnie are on the way to pick you up right now for some basic training exercises."

"Why Robyn? She's a medic," I asked.

"Basic training reflects the job a little bit, she's just a precaution. You know what you are signing up for Anwen. Are you ready?" he asked. There was a dare in his tone which made me smirk.

"I was born ready Harkness. Give me two minutes," I said hanging up. As I grabbed my coat and bag and headed for the door. Jess came bursting out of her room cell in hand.

"Anwen we need to talk!"

"No comment," I said throwing open the door and booking it down the hall knowing there was no way Jess would follow me out in public if she had no makeup on.


	2. Chapter 2

2) Stranger Days

When I got out of my car I saw Jack appear out of thin air as he got off the invincible lift. He looked completely fine. He didn't spot me right away so I hung back and took a deep breath. I don't think I'll ever get used to having a friend who can never die. There wasn't a scratch on him, not a burn, not a bruise, and his hair still looked great. He squinted and glanced around, looking for me I suppose. However, dying must have some impact on him because there was something slightly off about him today. He didn't hold his head quite so high, he was fidgeting with the cuffs of his greatcoat and I swear I could see him biting the inside of his cheek.

I put on a smile and began walking towards him. Before I got too close I called out a greeting so he could compose himself. I figure a man like Jack doesn't want even his friends to catch him showing obvious signs of anxiety over anything. He looks up and smiles but doesn't quite manage it.

"So what disaster do you have for me today? Terrorist Aliens? Weevils? Recover the lost piece of alien technology?" I asked skipping to his side and playfully punching his arm. "Come on Harkness. Whatever sort of training you need to throw at me I am ready and eager."

"It is wonderful to see you so chipper so soon. I'm surprised," he said cocking his head to the side as if he wanted to observe me from a new angle.

"Well you know what they say. The healthiest way to deal with disaster is to ignore it," I said smirking at him but laughing in the face of personal turmoil didn't seem to be his tune, and I didn't blame him for changing the subject.

"Well I thought I'd start you off on something simple today."

"Weevil?"

"Velociraptor."

"Really? How did a velociraptor end up in Cardiff? Did it get off on the wrong bus stop?"

"Fell through the rift we expect," he said not seeming to have detected my joke at all. Maybe he wasn't as accustom to events like those of the previous night as I thought. "I'll have to request you turn off your cell phone. It could interfere with the equipment in the SUV."

He rocked forward on his heels, watching me but avoiding direct eye contact, and I noticed he was biting the inside of his cheek again. I awkwardly pulled out my cell phone and turned it off which seemed to set him at ease… somewhat.

"Lead the way," I said. He nodded and started walking away from the Hub and I fell into step beside him. As we walked the sleeve of his greatcoat brush my arm, I tried veering aside so the physical contact would break, but then Jack decided to wrap his arm around my shoulders. I glanced at his face, mouth open ready to make some witty remark about sharing personal space but once again he wasn't looking at my face. He was staring off to the side as if all of a sudden the Bay had become the most fascinating thing in all of Creation. I opted out of remarking figuring it was nothing.

The great, sleek, black SUV appeared from around the corner. It had been parked haphazardly on the curb as if someone had been in a hurry but I guess that could have very well been the case.

"So, none of the other are coming to help with this misplaced dino?"

"No they are working on picking up the Raxacoricofallapatorians' mess back at the police department and at city hall," he said removing his arm hastily as if I'd confessed to having a skin disease and then he walked around the hood of the car to get into the driver's seat. I winced at the crass way he talked about what happened. He lad across the front and pushed open the car door for me. "Come on then Annie, we don't have all day."

"Ew, no one calls me Annie. Or Anne for that matter. Just Anwen," I babbled climbing into the passenger seat. I hardly had the door closed before he was speeding away.

"We don't have time to dilly-dally that raptor could hurt someone," he said anxiously. When I finished pulling my seat belt across my chest and plugged in he glanced at me and then at my hand, which was gripping the armrest for dear life as he broke the speed limit by a margin he could go to jail for. He looked to the road and back before apparently deciding my discomfort over his driving warranted needing my hand to be held. When he placed his large hand over my small more slender fingers I felt rage stinging my insides and I sharply pulled back my hand.

"What are you doing?"

"I just thought-"

"Pay attention to the goddamn road."

"Sorry," he said rolling his eyes and dragging out the sorry like he was a teenager.

"Did someone call in a sighting?"

"We could determine there was activity in the area and… um… Dylan and Marnie did some technical thingy to um find out about what came through."

"How?"

"I thought you didn't like techno-babble. Didn't take your sciences in school and all that nonsense."

"Were they able to tap into local cameras?" I offered.

"Sure that's what happened," he said glancing into the rear view mirrors. Finally Jack pulled over outside an old multi-level parking garage. He reached into the back seat and surprised me with a massive rifle. "This is loaded with tranquilizer darts. Shoot yourself in the foot and you will die. Shoot a pedestrian and we can cover it up. But do us all a favor just shoot the raptor."

"Ok, and what will you do?"

He pulled out the spyglass and smiled arrogantly, "I'll observe from a far."

"And if things go all Jurrasic Park in there?"

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," he said before giving me directions as to how to operate the rifle and sending me in alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Following Jack's directions I concealed the rife in a guitar bag as I walked hesitantly past the barriers that prevented cars from entering the underground garage. Once I was far enough down the sloping pavement to be concealed from the road I cautiously unzipped the bag and pulled the gun out. This specific type of rifle only allowed me to hold one tranq dart at a time so I had to carefully place the others in my coat pockets and prey I didn't jab myself in the side with them. There was no light once I moved away from the exit except for that which would come from the little torch on the end of the barrel.

After I finished loading the gun I paused in a crouching stance. My eyes were straining to see through the dark, ears perked for the sounds of claws on pavement or, if I were lucky (lucky?), cries. I flicked on the light and moved forward on silent feet. When I was young and Dad was trying to wean me off my mother's Torchwood stories he would buy me books on top of books about dinosaurs and paleontology. In hind sight it made a lot of sense, perhaps the young mind that had been entranced by extraterrestrials could be persuaded along a more harmless path with offerings from the wonder her own planet had to offer. Alas it never really took and after Gwen died he stopped trying. He let me hold onto those stories for they were my purest memories of Mom.

Now in the dark my mind races to recall everything I'd ever heard over the years about raptors. They were small for dinosaurs, only about as tall as an average man. They were most likely warm-blooded and feathered. As far as dinosaurs go they had a fairly large brain to body ratio, meaning they were clever. They may have been pack hunters… _how certain was Jack that only one had slipped through the rift?_

A clattering somewhere in front of me made my entire body seize up. I listened intently for more but no sounds came. I forced myself to rotate my body, to shine the light around the garage to try and find the source but there was nothing to see. The light cast by the torch was weak and in comparison to the amount of area I had to cover nearly useless. There was another clatter, like the sound of a can of beans on hard floor coming from the direction of a cluster of pillars. Anwen sucked in a deep breath and sprinted around a concrete column with my rifle at the ready. I leapt poised to shoot when an old man came into view sputtering and coughing as he tried to pick up some seemingly useless garbage to replace into a black shopping bag.

"Oh dear, officer I was just leaving. Put that light out," he muttered shielding his eyes from the light.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Just collecting my things. Found me-self a place in the park. Should be real quaint what with the weather turning," he babbled.

"Is there anyone else in here?"

"No, this was my place. Soon it will be no one's place," he answered stubbornly. "Is that a gun?"

"So you've seen nothing? Heard nothing? Not even, oh I don't know, a dog? A bird?"

"No not a thing, could you put that light out?"

"Get out of here," I snapped. I watched the old man run back to the halo of light coming from the road carrying his few worldly possessions in a few old shopping bags.

"What's going on down there?" Jack's voice sound rough and broken as it was emitted from my radio.

"Just some homeless man but he didn't see anything. You know this thing could have horrifyingly advanced night vision for all I know."

"Or it could be asleep, keep looking."

I turned off my radio and cursed rather creatively at Jack. After clearing the first level of the parking garage I found the slope leading to the level bellow. The sound of my boots on pavement echoed in the large empty space: c_lick_, _click_, _click_, _splat_. The smell hit me before I could process what I might have stepped in.

Raptor dung.

I shine the flashlight at my feet to investigate, and slap a hand over my mouth and nose. My boots were never going to be the same again but I prodded the pile with the toe of the defiled boot and could see it was moist and there was steam rising. Fresh, warm, and moist raptor dung. I gagged and tried to wipe some of the shit off my foot along the curb. There was a clicking sound somewhere in front of me. Like a cat or dog's claws on the pavement, but the frequency of the clicks was completely wrong. Hastily I fumbled to get the gun prepped and aimed.

To my shock there it was coming around the corner carrying its head high with all the swagger of a flamingo. It turned its long snout to get a better look at me as if it were merely curious about the obnoxious mouse to dare disturb it while preening its feathers. Which it was covered in, feathers that is. Bright blue plumage protruded from its crown like the display of a peacock while the rest of its body was coated in a beautiful brown laced with blue flecks.

"You're a beautiful boy, aren't you," I remarked, reminding myself the gun was loaded with tranquilizers. It pulled back its lips exposing a menacing row of dagger-like teeth, dipping its head while puffing out its feathers and making a hissing sound. "Alrighty, enough flirting."

I pulled the trigger and watched the tranq marked with a bright red tail embed itself in the raptor's collar bone. It made a sound like a yelp at being hit and shook out its feathers scratching off the dart. The raptor staggered and shook its head in confusion but quickly recovered and this time when our eyes locked a roar erupted from deep within its chest and I shrieked. The beast began to charge.


End file.
